One of the items on the agenda of the April session of the Bolesławiec County Council was a vote on a draft resolution “on removing sections of county roads within the city of Bolesławiec from the county-road category”.

Before that happened, opposition councillors took the floor. Jan Russ, head of the Free Bolesławiec councillors’ club, pointed out that the county authorities were transferring roads to the municipal authorities that had already been practically renovated.

The county governor Tomasz Gabrysiak joined the discussion, highlighting in turn the fact that the County was transferring to Bolesławiec City Hall sections of roads that it had itself taken over in November last year from the Lower Silesian Road and Railway Service.

The head of the County Board added that “it is difficult to find roads with a more urban character than those located in the very centre of Bolesławiec”.

The county governor also noted that the costs of maintaining county roads in Bolesławiec were “radically higher” than those of the so-called through roads between municipalities, while the loss of revenue (for example, from occupying the road lane) would be small—around PLN 7,000 annually. He stressed that Śluzowa Street, which generates the most revenue from this source, would still be managed by the County.

Michał Bojanowski of the Local Government Platform stated that the county authorities were “precisely matching the expectations of the city’s executive body”.

T. Gabrysiak explained that this solution would help ease congestion in the city, because it would make it easier, for example, to synchronise traffic lights in the city centre.

What about Grunwaldzka?

During the discussion about the roads, the Bolesławiec county governor also mentioned that the next street to be transferred to the City would be Grunwaldzka. (“We agreed this with the deputy mayor,” he added.)

How did the councillors vote?

Karol Stasik, head of PS, announced that his club would abstain because the proposals contained in the draft resolution “are not optimal for the County”:

We are giving away assets that have been the subject of investment in recent years.

The former county governor added that there had been other possible solutions, such as transferring to the municipal authorities some roads that had been renovated and some that still required renovation.

Jan Russ expressed a similar view. Independent councillor Tomasz Matyjewicz mentioned, among other things, that this could be a kind of gift for the City, since it planned to introduce paid parking in the centre and would generate revenue from it.

Despite the opposition’s objections, the Bolesławiec County Council adopted the resolution in question. Eleven councillors voted in favour. Eight abstained.

Details of the resolution are available on the Bolesławiec County website.

What do you think? We invite you to join the discussion.